Posted by Dena on April 25, 2005, at 21:03:33
In reply to Lou's response to Dena's post » Dena, posted by Lou Pilder on April 25, 2005, at 20:26:52
> Dena,
> You wrote,[...Jesus had no patience with people... who made "reaching God" more difficult than it needed to be...].
> Could you clarify the following as to what you mean by:
> A. "reaching God" ?Well, God is Spirit -- we're spirit, too, but also psyche (soul) and body. We're limited by our humanity. God is Other... every religion has some sort of system designed to connect with Deity in some meaningful way...
Within Judaism (& really, Lou, YOU should be teaching us about this, rather than me teaching here...!), the law was given as a means of having a relationship with God.
The law was good - it established a covenant between God and the Jews.
But some individuals took the already-good law, and added extra laws upon it - man's laws ... making it difficult for the average person to adhere to all of the laws... and in some cases, the focus got off of God, and onto desperately trying to keep all the nuances of the added-on laws...
People who wanted to love and follow God often had a hard time doing so, feeling like failures for not being able to keep up with man's laws (which were in the guise of God's laws).
> B. the things that make it {more difficult}than it needed to be?
Any time we're trying to please another person's interpretation of God's requirements, we're attempting to please another human being, rather than trying to please God. Only God is perfect, only God is able to help us keep His commandments, and only God is able to judge men's hearts... people can't do that. No person should judge another's heart.
> C. an example of Jesus having no patience ?
Matthew 21: 12Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13“It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers."
Matthew 23 (the whole chapter, but here is a portion): 23“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices–mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law–justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
Whether you could say He "lost His patience", or just strongly reubuked, He certainly wasn't pleased with this attitude.
He spoke against "using God" to push one's own agenda.
I would dare to say that today, He's just as rebuking of those who do so: Preachers who lord over others; Tele-evangelists who use their position to bilk others out of their money; people who line the streets of Jerusalem, selling "tourist trinkets"; and people like me - who wore the labels of "born again" and "saved", and yet looked down on others who weren't "in the club".
Did I answer your questions, Lou?
Many, many people have done selfish, self-absorbed, self-promoting things "in the name of God", and I'm one of the guilty ones...
May God have mercy on us. May He teach us a better way.
Shalom, Dena
poster:Dena
thread:487466
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20050312/msgs/489482.html